Fay has a true gift for making things. Whether it is cooking beautiful food, tiling a bathroom or stitching a skirt, she achieves excellence in anything I have seen her try.

Imagine how excited I was when she turned her skills to making a shawlette/scarf inspired by In The Light of What We See!

As Fay knows I am a novice crocheter (and she wanted simple pattern that could be done while listening to an audiobook or watching television), the pattern is suitable for beginners. It has a geometric edge pattern, and I can absolutely picture Mina wearing it.

Plus, she found beautiful hand-dyed yarn (by Ripples Crafts in Scotland) in colours which match the book cover perfectly.

Yes, she’s a genius.

To celebrate my very first ‘bespoke book-inspired pattern’, I’m giving away the audiobook of In The Light of What We See, the exclusive pattern, and a skein of hand-dyed yarn (enough to make the shawlette). Just head to Twitter and RT/follow to enter!

You need to follow both my account and Fay’s – @ma_dashper and @SarahRPainter

Good luck!

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Terms and conditions:

To enter you must follow (or already be a follower!) of both accounts and have retweeted the competition tweet.

One entry per Twitter user.

One winner will be chosen at random. The prize: one skein of yarn, the crochet pattern and one copy of the audiobook (on CD).

Giveaway is open internationally and closes at 9pm (GMT) on Friday 2oth May 2016.

Following the tragic earthquake in Nepal, author Julia Williams has set up a charity auction to raise money for the relief effort.

Loads of authors, editors and agents have donated fabulous prizes, including signed books, illustrations, mentoring and manuscript appraisals, book swag and more.

The auction is live on eBay now and all funds raised will go to Earthquake Relief for Nepal which has been set up by First Steps Himalaya. The charity works closely on the ground, so the money will go where it is needed most.

And since Nepal suffered a second earthquake this week, the money being raised is more important than ever.

I’ve donated a six month mentoring package, ideal if you want hands-on support from a friendly and motivational author (me!) to achieve your creative goals. The package includes monthly email contact, three live sessions (via Skype or telephone) and up to 10,000 words of your work read/critiqued.

Whether you want to overcome self-doubt and procrastination to establish a regular writing routine, help with crafting your story and creating memorable characters, or advice on polishing your submission package, I can help.

Last year I was delighted to contribute to Winter Tales, a short story collection in aid of two great charities. My story is called ‘The Art of Giving’ and it features Iris Harper (a character from The Language of Spells) in her youth.

I’m giving away a paperback edition of the book to a member of my mailing list – the first of many subscriber-only perks!

To be in with a chance, just sign up for my newsletter here and I shall pick a name on Sunday.

[The giveaway is open internationally. It closes at midnight GMT on Saturday 31st January 2015. Winner shall be picked at random.]